Using social media to encourage more women into european politics

Mel Herdon

Why social media?● Low (or no) hard costs for set-up; potentially wide reach; instantaneous

sharing of messages; new opportunities to listen, engage, and monitor progress.

● Pairing virtual campaigns with flesh-and-blood action is the most effective: 90,000 people on Facebook pledged to join demos against Mubarak's 30year dictatorship (the rest is history...)

● Anyone can use social media. People of all ages across the globe are increasingly using social media.

Pinterest is far from the only social media site dominated by women. Look at Twitter: 62% of Twitter's users are female - each month 40 million more women visit Twitter than men.

Same goes for Facebook, but slightly less so. 58% of the social network's users are women.

Use what works (and is readily accessible)

● Twitter● Facebook● YouTube● Personal blogs● And/or the most popular

social tool in your country (if not one of the above)

Engaging on Facebook

Interactions with photos almost always dwarf interaction with other content types

#1: Upload images and embed text in images

#2: Stimulate Engagement

Every time you post you have the chance to create curiosity, challenge people and inspire. Try one of these ideas to generate excitement and engagement:

What is the...? Solicit opinions on effective ways to mobilise, by asking the questions that you can't answer yourselves.

Caption contest: Use a (newsy?) photo where someone appears to be talking, or a photo that features several people who might talk to each other.

Multiple choice: The comments here might only be single letters, but they still count just as much as any other Facebook comment. It's also a way to get your fans to vote on an issue.

Fill in the blank: You can make the question sound personal, so that fans will get excited to share something about themselves in relation to the issue.

Inspirational quotes: There are dozens of websites that feature famous quotes. These combine very well with images and captioning.

#3: Reward

Brands create viral exposure by giving away offers, competitions, free gifts, promoting their customers' pictures etc..

Find a way to reward your audience – eg develop partnerships with companies who can provide competition prizes and special offers.

#4: Tone - personal and friendly

Brands on Facebook don't sound like organisations, so nor should movements for change.

● Sound chatty and informal

● Respond to comments - make it a conversation

● Allow differences of opinion and avoid heavy handed moderation (have a clear policy which states what is not acceptable eg grossly offensive posts containing racism, homophobia, etc) - the fans will often respond to negative posters themselves.

● Don't write lengthy posts, or posts full of jargon

● Above all don't sound overly political – politics has long been thought of as some 'special club' with lots of rather dry customs and rules. Facebook is the place to make it seem an altogether less intimidating place!

Create a following on Twitter

#1: Write a killer Twitter bio

Choose a short twitter handle (Twitter-speak for profile name).

In your biography say what you do -answering the question as to why you are on Twitter.

Prioritise just what it is that defines you that you want to get across to your followers.

Think keywords! Twitter is a search tool too, so it helps to include key-words in your bio. Think about things that people would search for to find you, and try to include those words. Your followers will be more likely to stick if they were searching and found you based on relevant key-words.

#2: Be active

When you are engaged with your network – by actively replying, retweeting and sending out links to quality content, you will find that new followers will trickle in at a steady pace.

#wom#3: Twitter directories and hashtags

Directories like WeFollow.com and Listorious.com categorise Twitter users into areas of interest or expertise. You can find influencers in your niche by checking there. If you follow quality people on Twitter, many follow you back and you’ll have interesting things to retweet.

Hashtags like #womeninpolitics go a long way in attracting followers. By using appropriate hashtags in your tweets, you’ll be doing two important things: signalling what the main topic is and what you will be tweeting about regularly; and including your tweet in the search results for that hashtag.

Both of these results of hashtag use will serve to attract followers interested in the hashtags and topics you tweet about most.

See: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/best-practices-for-hashtags_b33842

#4: Go to Tweetups. Share with your networks

● Tweetups are in-person get-togethers with the people you interact with on Twitter - a great way to get to know your followers better and gain new followers if you extend the invite to the networks of your followers. To set one up go to Twtvite.com or Tweetvite.com

● Share your Twitter account with your other networks. Linking to your Twitter account on your blog, website, Facebook profi le, email signature, LinkedIn profi le and anywhere else that you have a web presence will help boost your follower count too.

● Add your Twitter handle to your business card. This way you’ll be able to connect on Twitter with those whom you met at conferences, meet-ups, and other networking events.

#5: Tweet multimediaTwitter isn’t just about retweeting other people’s links. Followers appreciate photos in tweets – and they can attract more followers, as it shows that you are a diverse tweeter. Photoblogging phone apps such as Instagram will allow you to automatically Tweet and Facebook update your photo-posts.

Tools, monitoring and analysis

Monitor growth and engagement of your following - if you’re doing something right or wrong, it's important to know!

● TwitterCounter can check up on how many followers you’re gaining on averagea day, and which actions increase this number fastest.

● The free version of Hootsuite lets you to manage up to 5 social profi les, run analytics reports and schedule messages.

● Klout provides infl uencer score based on your social media activity - look at your infl uencers and who you infl uence to share content of the highest quality from trusted sources.

● The Facebook Insights dashboard gives you the analytics related to your page so you can track growth and impact. Use it to understand your followers and reach your audience.

● TweetDeck arranges feeds from your social networks in one dashboard. You can schedule tweets and set-up feeds for your social search needs.

Thank you

Questions

How can we leverage social media to encourage more women candidates for 2014 EU elections?

What call to action will be most effective in social media?